195-Inch Bleckley County Bow Buck Caps Stellar Season

Dayton Cannon, of Cochran, with a 195-inch buck from Bleckley County that he took with his bow.

Dayton Cannon, of Cochran, has had an exceptional year in 2023, killing two record-class bucks with a bow, a 140-inch typical and a 195-inch non-typical. Both bucks were killed in Bleckley County.

On Oct. 12, he was in a stand in a hardwood bottom when a huge 9-pointer came easing down the trail at 5:30 p.m., headed into a food-plot. When the buck got to 15 yards, he cranked back his Obsession bow and let the arrow fly to its mark. Dayton says it happened so quick, there wasn’t much story to tell. However, Dayton had already put in a lot of work to set up his stand in the proper location, and he knew where the buck was traveling due to a bunch of trail-cam photos showing the buck. Dayton says he likes it when a plan comes together! The buck grossed 140 inches.

Dayton Cannon used trail-camera photos to pattern this Bleckley County buck. It grosses 140 inches.

On Monday, Oct. 23, Dayton’s deer season really got great when he arrowed a 15-point buck. This buck was unique with an extra long main beam extending from its left antler. Unlike the first buck that provided numerous trail-cam photos revealing its presence, this buck was a drop-in guest that Dayton had never seen before.

This mature buck had the rut on its brain and was seen chasing does that had no interest in courting. During his morning hunt, Dayton saw the buck and does in a food plot 200 yards away, but they never got close enough for a bow shot. That afternoon, Dayton went to the same stand.

The buck was still interested in chasing does, but they were closer to his stand. The does hurried away and left the buck in their dust. Apparently feeling dejected, the buck turned around and ambled back into the food plot and offered Dayton a 15-yard shot with his bow. He said the huge size of the rack made him nervous, and he pulled the shot a bit, hitting the buck too far forward, but probably still a killing shot.

“I didn’t like the sound of the arrow hitting the buck, and I really lost track of the arrow’s path as it hit the buck, but I thought the shot was probably good,” said Dayton.

He waited a while and got down to look for a blood trail and found some blood but not the large amount he was hoping for. He couldn’t find the buck, and as it was now dark, he decided to wait until morning and locate a tracking dog to aid in finding the buck. Dayton says he had a long, sleepless night, worried about the buck, but morning found him and Mike Lopez with his tracking dog at the scene of the last blood sign. It only took a few minutes and soon the dog howled with success at finding the buck, only about 100 yards from the last known location. Dayton said there was no ground shrinkage with this buck, and he actually looked bigger on the ground than he remembered. He truly felt blessed and lucky to have taken such a magnificent buck.

The large-bodied buck had 15 points and Dayton loaded him up for a trip to Frog Mullis’s taxidermy shop where Frog gave him a preliminary green score of 195 7/8 inches with a net score of 188 4/8 inches, truly the buck of a lifetime! The buck will be re-scored after the 60-day drying period.

Dayton is no stranger to killing big bucks. He currently has the No. 1 bow buck for Bleckley County, a 2020 typical deer that nets 151 1/8 inches. It will be interesting to see where his latest two bucks will land. It could be Dayton ends up with the top-3 bow bucks for the county. 

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